Frame for suspending folders or document containers in drawers and the like



Dec. 14, 1943. B PQSNER 2,336,802

FRAME FOR SUSPENDING FOLDERS OR DOCUMENT-CONTAINERS IN DRAWERS AND THE LIKE Filed May 29, 1942 L --J- J 22! I L7 3 INVENTOR. 2

Bernard 3. l 4

I ILILS A Harness.

Patented Dec. 14, 1943 iJiED STAS warez ATENT OFFICE FRAME FOR SUSPENDING DOCUMENT CONTAINERS IN AND THE LKKE FOLDERS OR DRAWERS Application May 29, 1942, Serial No. 444,947

In Great Britain January 24, 1942 1 Claim.

The invention relates to a skeleton frame, for suspending folders or document-containers in a drawer or the like, of that kind built up of two rigidly assembled end members rigidly coupled by two opposite and longitudinal and upper side rails, upon which said folders or containers hang at their ends to be suspended edgewise within the depth of the frame for easy putting-in, sorting and removal, such a frame being adapted for supporting itself within a drawer space to rest upon the bottom thereof.

In document filing cabinets using such frames, drawers are of different lengths, and the frames to be used therein need to be of lengths to correspond, and as said frames are often separately supplied, their required size generally presents commercial difficulties both in manufacture and fitting.

The invention provides a skeleton frame, aforesaid, capable of being more easily constructed and assembled to any length of drawer space likely to be required; to thereby remove the difilculties hereinbefore stated.

A frame according to the invention combines two upper and longitudinal side rails each straight from end to end, and two rigid end members each provided with portions extending at right angles to attachably connect with the ends of the straight side rails in a rigid manner, said rightangled portions being preferably in the form of plugs, and the ends of the side rails in the form of sockets to be engaged by the plugs rigidly, preferably up to stop surfaces. The plug and socket engagements, aforesaid, may be with considerable friction, but in a particular form of the invention such engagement automatically locks in assembly, for example, by a ratchet action between a spring limb on a plug and holes or piercings, or notches, in a socket.

It is a feature of the invention that a side rail straight from end to end and of maximum length can be cut shorter from one or both ends to the length required, for use to rigidly couple up the two assembled end frames, and it is also a feature in the plug and socket arrangement to provide the socket in the end of the straight side rail and a number of small holes or piercings therein to be automatically snap engaged by a spring limb pierced out from the right-angled plug on the end member.

In one form of the invention the cross-section of the plug is oblong, i. e. formed from strip metal, with the spring limb pierced out there from, and the cross-section of the socket of elongated D shape with preferably narrow top and bottom ribs for the ends of the document-containers to rest upon in a manner easily separable. The side rail may be formed from a tube or from strip metal fashioned into a tube. The inner wall of the socket or tube is provided with the holes or notches or teeth and if a tube the whole of the inner wall of the tube may be formed with distanced holes, notches or teeth.

The drawing shows the desirable form of the invention.

Fig. l is a perspective view of a frame assemled, and a folder or document-container hanging therefrom.

Fig. 2 shows, on a larger scale, an end of a side rail.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of Fig. 2 on the dotted line AB.

Fig. 4 is a cross-section of Fig. 2 on the dotted line CD.

Fig, 5 shows in elevation a right-angled portion of an end member.

Fig. 6 is a section of Fig. 5 on the dotted line EF.

The frame is composed of opposite end members l and 2, and of opposite longitudinal side rails 3 and 4 rigidly connecting the two end members.

Each end member is built up of narrow strip metal, and comprises two legs 5 and 6, and a lower horizontal stay I and a top stay 8, the latter forming at each end an opposite horizontal right-angled portion 9, as represented clearly by Figs. 5 and 6 and indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1, said right angled portion having pierced therefrom a spring catch I8, also clearly shown by Figs. 5 and 6. The two legs and the two stays are rigidly connected at :1: by spot welding or other means, and said two stays are in length approximately the Width of the interior of the drawer to which the frame is to be applied.

The two side bars 3 and d are each of tubular formation, as clearly shown by Figs. 3 and 4, being formed from a metal blank into approximately elongated D cross-section, but providing longitudinal upper and lower ribs ii and 2, for the end suspenders i3 and ii of a documentfolder or container, I5, to rest upon in a manner represented in Fig. 1, each folder to be easily put into the frame, sorted from others, and easily removed therefrom.

Each end of a side rail 3 or 4 is provided with a line of longitudinally distanced holes It, for co-operation with the spring catch i5.

Each end of a tubular side rail 3 or 4 therefore forms a socket I! with which the right-angled portion 9, forming a plug, engages and becomes automatically locked by the spring catch l snap engaging one of the holes 16 in the adjacent The side rail can be detached from the plug by pressure of the spring catch inwardly out of engagement with the particular hole IS in said side rail.

The holes l6 are so distanced apart longitudinally of the side rail that by cutting off a portion of the end of the rail at one or both ends' the length of the rail can be shortened, so that the spring catch may co-act with any one of the holes provided.

It will be clear from the foregoing that a straight-length side rail of maximum length can be easily shortened to the required length by cutting off a portion at either one or both ends, to thereby obviate commercial difficulties both in manufacture of the frame and its fitment to ber having in it holes, detents or teeth distanced apart for the whole of its length, and this will enable a separately formed stay to be applied between two side rails at any intermediate distance. between the end members of the frame.

It is a feature of the invention that the frame can be assembled without loose parts, as for example by the devices described and illustrated, and alternatively by the right angled plugs 9 engaging the sockets 16 with considerable friction;

but the invention is more particularly the use of right angled portions 9 on'the end members, and straight side rails capable of being shortened fro maximum to required length, or of being cut'ofi a straight stock length to the required length to suit the frame, additional securing pins, or the like, being used or not as necessary.

Having now described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In a suspension file support, the combination comprising a pair of rigid unitary end frames each having a transverse stay at the top with its terminal ends lying at right angles to the respective planes of the frames, a pair of tubular rails having diametrically opposed reinforcing flanges composed of a plurality of plies of the wall material formed by reversely bending it, said terminal ends being telescoped in the ends of'said rails, and cooperating means formed on said terminal ends and rails to lock them together.

BERNARD BENJAMIN POSNER. 

